"Then it is the strength of love awakened by Montrose. You might have known, Master--you who have such means of obtaining knowledge--that there was that risk when I let her go to Mrs. Barrast's." "I am not omnipotent and omniscient," answered the old man dryly. "Great as is my power, there are still many things beyond my control. I implied as much when I told you that the present situation is the outcome of the past. You know the Law of Karma--the Law of Cause and Effect--the Law of 'As ye sow so shall ye reap,' which governs the evolution of the present creation, and knowing so much, you should not be surprised that we are mastered by it as are all beings. Sooner or later Alice was bound to come into contact with our enemies." "Who are they?" "Dr. Eberstein and Douglas Montrose!" "Alice told me how she had met Eberstein and how much she liked him. But she gave me no hint that he was an enemy." "How could she, seeing she does not know," retorted Narvaez sharply. "Eberstein is the White Magician, against whom I warned you weeks ago. He is coming down here soon, as I prophesied he would. And Montrose also comes. We were all together in Chaldea five thousand years ago, and there engendered causes which have to be worked out in the flesh to-day. Why do you blame me for Alice going to London?" "She has gained strength by going there and meeting these men. You should have warned me." "I warned you as much as I could," snapped Narvaez, acridly sharp, "but I could not prevent the inevitable. Alice had to meet them, and the loss of that money under the will which left it to Montrose was the means used to bring them together. All I could do, being impotent under the Karmic Law, was to so arrange matters that Montrose might be brought down here along with Dr. Eberstein. That I have managed and now comes the tug of war. You are by no means a satisfactory pupil, Enistor, as I have again and again to explain matters which you already know." "Then I take it that Eberstein has already declared war by bringing Montrose and Alice together?" "The Great Law did that. Eberstein's declaration of war is the help that he is giving Alice to withstand the influence we strive to bring to bear upon her. For the moment, as you saw, she nearly relapsed into her former condition when she returned from her visit. But her intuition told her to call upon her guardian Eberstein and the help came. Her innocence protected her before: now she has the more powerful protection of love, both from Montrose in a personal sense, and in an impersonal way from Eberstein." "Is he very powerful?" "Yes," grinned Narvaez with a look of hate in his cold blue eyes. "He follows the Right-hand Path of Love, and has the universal power behind him. You and I on the Left-hand Path of Hate possess only a portion of that power." "In that case it seems impossible to conquer," said Enistor irresolutely.